Just when you thought Tennessee lawmakers were taking a few weeks off from being the strangest, most sexually hung-up lawmakers in the land, they decided to come back with a vengeance, passing a bill to amend the state’s abstinence-only sex ed programs [because if there's one thing Tennessee's good at, it's pregnant teenagers!] enumerating various “gateway sexual activities,” such as holding hands:
Tennessee senators approved an update to the state’s abstinence-based sex education law that includes warnings against “gateway sexual activity.”
In a new family life instructions bill, holding hands and kissing could be considered gateways to sex.
[...]
The bill prohibits teachers from demonstrating gateway sexual activity. CaPese said that would include health education models.
Was there a previous problem with teachers feeling the need to demonstrate “gateway sexual activity” before? And if a teacher is caught folding her hands at her desk, is she opening herself up to a world of problems?
This place is so weird…
Think Progress points out that the Tennessee legislature is busy on other fronts too, having just passed a bill allowing schools to teach creationism as science.
[...] Drug To Nookie, Tennessee Senate Warns Truth Wins Out Fri, April 13, 2012 7:02 PM UTC Truth Wins Out Rate Loading … Share (function() { var po = document.createElement('script'); [...]
Im guessing we should just say “no” to Marvin Gaye records too.
How long before they recommend chastity belts and single-gender schools?
Emma, don’t forget those reprobate Beatles (I Wanna Hold Your Hand).
Nah, single-gender schools will encourage homosexual “experimentation” and THAT is far worse than heterosexual hand-holding and kissing. So they gotta go with the lesser of the two evils here … :-)
This level of obsession with controlling sexuality is part of fascist and authoritarian mindsets. No surprise, since these wackos are motivated by religion, and religion is authoritarian.
Reminds me of the kind of behavior control/ mind control used in Stalin’s Russia or North Korea. The fact that we know these bills are being foisted by born-again fundagelicals is quite telling.
For religion, controlling sex is simply a great way to control people. They realized that early on (though a lot of the people who made up Christianity were sexually and socially dysfunctional by themselves). People have little control over their sexual desires. Thoughts and feelings can be suppressed to some extent, but they can’t be shut off. So churches can tell people that they are sick for having these thoughts and know full well that they well keep having them. Then they offer the “cure” and are absolutely sure that people will soon be back for more.
Steve, I think you nailed it. When combined with the expedient fear of eternal torture for the slightest transgression, religion is the most effective mechanism for control ever invented. I suppose that’s one reason that governments have often been so cozy with religious entities.
LOL So… I’m assuming this is what Republicans mean when they say Small Government?
[...] impact, it’s not apparent among evangelicals’ choice of elected officials. Wisconsin, Tennessee, and North Dakota are just a few of the Republican-controlled state governments that continue to [...]